Monday, October 31, 2011

Quilt-a-thon and Continuous Bias Tape

I started out last week with an email from Deborah at Whipstitch who was looking to help out a local designer who needed a couple of "emergency quilts" made to display at Quilt Market this past weekend. I'll share more details after the show is over and I get a couple photos of the booth but I ended up making two baby quilts (about 40x60) with some very cute baby fabric in about 48 hours. Yes, you read that right, 2 complete quilts from start to finish in 48 hours. Now they weren't fancy but I was really pleased that I could get them done and help out an artist/designer in need. Plus there was the added benefit of knowing that something I MADE was hanging at Quilt Market. My dream is to get there in person one of these years so this seemed like an awesome opportunity to get at least one tiny toe in the door.Pushing myself to get those quilts done that quickly made me realize how absolutely ridiculous it is that I have so many things on my UFO (unfinished objects) pile *this close* to being completed. So it's given me a push to get that pile moving! I was a bit nervous about trying to make the continuous bias tape that I needed for my Heather Bailey quilt but with the directions in Deborah's book, the fact that the very kind Diana at Whipstitch walked me through the process one Saturday at Whipstitch and using the photos in Make it Modern's continuous bias tape tutorial I bit the bullet and went for it. I used one yard of a tomato-y Kona red and ended up with SIXTEEN yards of bias tape! SWEET! More than enough for my quilt binding with some left over. It's already pinned on and just waiting for nap time to get sewn.Up this week: finish the Heather Bailey quilt, bind the Anna Maria Horner quilt and new pajama pants for our lovely fall weather that finally arrived! I'll be posting pictures of what I get finished on Friday and linking them to Crazy Mom Quilts new Finish It Up Friday feature. Have a great week!